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FreightWaves, 6/13/24

 

Railroads fear losing out to trucks if California gets its way

 

CARB’s zero-emission regulation would force freight onto highways, railroad lobbyists testify

 

WASHINGTON — Major freight railroads and their short-line counterparts raised red flags on Capitol Hill about supply chain consequences of a California regulation aimed at cutting air pollution from locomotives.

 

If the California Air Resources Board is successful in securing approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California’s In-Use Locomotive Regulation, adopted by the state last year, would require all locomotives manufactured after 2035 that travel though the state of California be zero-emission – effectively banning the operation in California of locomotives that are more than 23 years old, based on the original manufacture date, the railroads asserted.

 

Because close to 70% of the Class I locomotive fleet moves in and out of California in any given year, “the rule dramatically increases the cost of providing rail transportation, and most likely shifts a lot of freight onto the highway,” said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, testifying before the oversight subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Thursday.

 

 

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Progressive Railroading, 5/14/24

 

ASLRRA: CARB locomotive rule would lead to more big trucks on highways

 

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) President Chuck Baker testified yesterday before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight in a hearing titled “Environmentalism Off the Rails: How CARB Will Cripple the National Rail Network.”

 

Subcommittee members called the hearing to review impacts from the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) in-use locomotive rule. The CARB rule would prohibit locomotives older than 23 years from operating in the state, starting in 2030 for switch, industrial and passenger locomotives, and in 2035 for line haul locomotives. By 2047, 100% of annual fleet usage in California must be from zero-emission locomotives.

 

 

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